


Us-Maybe

by davismango



Category: What If It's Us - Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-05-31 17:19:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19430566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/davismango/pseuds/davismango
Summary: Alternate Universe where Arthur is from New York and meets Ben in Wyoming.





	1. The Meet Cute

**Author's Note:**

> I dont know how often or when I'll update this. Hope someone enjoys this anyways

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its less showy and exciting because its Wyoming. I have a feeling this fanfic will become less canon compliant the longer it goes on.

Arthur  
Monday, July 9

I didn't expect it to happen this quickly- I want to go home.  
Wyoming moves at the rate of molasses. Here's a joke for you. Why did the deer cross the road? It didn't. It just stared at the car in front of me which didn't even try to honk its horn to spook the deer off. For three minutes. Mom is going to murder me. The only place in town that I've found with halfway decent coffee is the diner so I was going to grab mom and I some before heading in today. I figured it'd make the fluorescent lights in the office (If an old converted shopping center deserves to be called that) more bearable. I'd take the fluorescents over the deer incident and the waitress trying to get my life story while we wait for the coffee to brew. She finally pours the coffee into styrofoam cups and pushes lids onto them and I get a text.  
'Hey Hon, since you're out, can you swing by the post office and grab stamps?'  
I shoot back 'sure' and hop back in the car.  
The post office isn't open yet when I get there. I snap a picture of an open field while I wait and send it to the group chat.  
Jessica, who like a lot of New Yorkers, has never left the city, responds back immediately, "I hate you and I want to be you. Also, I miss you." Followed by fifteen kissy emojis. I think if she could text a lipstick smudge onto my cheek she would.  
We've been friends forever and we have never been mushy. That is, until prom night when I came out as gay.  
"I miss you guys too. 3 weeks, 6 days, 7 hours. But who's counting?"  
Ethan responds with a grimace. A grimace! If Jessica has become mush, Ethan has become concrete. You know, he's not that bad in the group text though. But one on one? The moment I came out he went radio silent. One of these days I'm going to call him on it.

And then I look up and a man with a hat bigger than my head saunters up to the post office holding a ring of keys. The man works at a post office and looks like a caricature of a cowboy. I know better than to stare but it takes everything in me not to take a picture to send to Ethan. He'd get a total kick out of this. Dammit. How dare Ethan enter my happy thoughts while I'm trying to be mad at him? I swear-  
My thoughts stop as I look over at the car pulling up next to my mom's.  
Holy shit.  
The cutest boy I think I've ever seen steps out.  
I pass probably a million people every day back home and the cutest boy in the world is hiding out in Glenrock Wyoming. Absolutely no fair.  
Maybe it's his hair. Or his freckles. Or the pinkness of his cheeks. Who notices cheeks anyways? For the first time in my life I'm noticing every detail about a total stranger. Light brown hair, faded jeans, scuffed tennis shoes, gray shirt hiding behind a cardboard box. He's taller than me. Okay, most guys are taller than me.  
I have stared too long even by Wyoming standards I guess because he's looking back at me.  
But 20 points to Gryffindor because I shoot him a winsome smile and ask, "Do you think Mr. Post office is going to rope some cattle on his lunch break?"  
His startled laugh is adorable. "That or go riding off into the wilderness."  
For what must be a minute, we grin at each other without speaking until he looks away and shyly asks, "Um, can you get the door for me please?"  
I glance over and nearly trip over myself to grab it. "Sure, yeah." And I follow him into the post office.  
Postal Cowboy, as my brain has for some reason decided to call the man with the keys, is setting up his work space because absolutely nothing at all happens fast here. Mysterious beauty and I wait in the front area which I think could maybe hold 10 more people. I wonder to myself where they hold and sort mail in this little building.  
And normally I'm not that talkative. In New York you can get murdered with a look for daring to make eye contact so usually I keep my head down. Except today words spill out of my mouth as I try not to count his eyelashes or think about those lips. Oh God those lips are like they were ripped off of Tom Hardy. I dont even really realize I've been talking until he says, "I'm sorry, my what is big?"  
"Your package. I mean...not your 'package'...your box. Thats... a big box. I swear I don't usually comment on the size of guys' boxes."  
He smiles. "So, you're not from here."  
My head tilts. "How did you know?"  
This town has a population of about 2,000. Only 130 of those residents are teenagers. I think I'd notice if you were one of the 56 dudes about my age around here. Nice tie by the way.'  
I look down and feel my face turn red. Of course I'm wearing Dad's rubber duck tie.  
"So did you just move here?"  
"Sort of? Not really. I'm here for the summer."  
"Oh. You must be from somewhere really lame to be vacationing here."  
"Well, I'm not technically vacationing. I'm doing an internship through my mom. I'm from Manhattan."  
His eyes go wide. "Like, downtown New York, Manhattan?"  
"Its not as cool as it sounds, I swear. Its crowded and fast and bright and loud."  
He giggles. "You are going to be bored out of your mind in a week, tie boy. What internship could you possibly be doing in Glenrock?"  
"Well, my mom is a lawyer and her firm has a satellite office here so she came out at the end of April for this case shes working on and then when I got out of school she offered me an internship and a room at Milton's and said it would look good on my resume so I said sure and-"  
"Back up. Milton? Who's Milton?"  
"My Great Uncle. He lives on a ranch on the edge of town."  
Postal Cowboy snaps and asks, "Are either of you planning on not wasting any more of my time?"  
The cute boy shuffles over to the counter and apologizes. I peak over at the label. I cant make it out.  
"Are all New Yorkers that nosy?" He asks.  
"Oh, uh, no, sorry."  
"Its okay. It's just leftover stuff I cant bear to look at anymore."  
"Oh, I'm sorry for your loss."  
"He's not dead. Just an ass."  
My tongue goes numb at the possibility that maybe..."Oh cool. I mean, not cool that he's an ass but uh, he's not dead so that's probably a good thing right, I mean, depending on what your relationship to him was."  
Box Boy shoots me a glare. "Whatever you're thinking, save it."  
"I dont mean to imply anything. Look, I'm gay." And I swear the air in the post office stops circulating.  
I dont say it out loud that often. Everyone important to me knows but it's still so new and I never can tell how people will react.  
So I audibly sigh in relief when Postal Cowboy takes the box from the cute boy and the cute boy says "Oh!" In a surprised but positive way.  
Postal Cowboy says, "That'll be $15."  
"$15?!"  
"That's the shipping fee, yes."  
He takes his box back. "God the universe is such a dick." And he walks out.  
The postman shakes his head. "Poor boy. Dont know what he expected though."  
I realize I didn't even get his name.  
"Hey, do you know him?"  
"Towns small son, but not that small. No doubt you'll run into him again though. Now what'd you come in here for?"  
I have completely forgotten. I glance down at my texts and then back up. "A sheet of stamps please."


	2. Dylan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben and Dylan discuss romance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cut out the subplot about the self-insert fic because an ex of mine was really into writing self insert fic and that ultimately hurt me a lot so I wasn't really into that whole bit.

Ben

I sit in the car in front of Dylan's house with my stupid box. God, I should throw the box away. All I had to do was mail the box. $15 is absurd but at least it would be gone. In my defense, there was a lot going on. That cool and cute guy was there and he's from New York and he is openly gay and he wanted to talk to me and. And he doesnt seem to think the universe is stupid. And I dont even know his name.  
I sigh and thank whatever is out there that at least Dylan is home right now. Like just about everyone in this fucking town I've known Dylan forever. And somehow we've stayed friends the whole time. Dylan is pretty forgetful so he was always tapping my shoulder for pencils and paper as little kids and then when we got older he was borrowing my junk cellphone to text his crush of the week after his own battery died. In exchange I would "borrow" money for lunch and he's never cared that I cant pay him back. And he doesnt care that I like guys and I dont care that he likes girls.  
Theres a dumpster in his neighborhood that I held the box over for like ten minutes but I just couldn't bring myself to throw the damn thing in there.  
I guess I didn't expect the breakup between Hudson and I to suck so much because I did the breaking up. But he's the one who kissed someone else so it still feels like he ended things. Things haven't been right between us since his parents got divorced. Like, when I let him plan my birthday and he took me to his favorite restaurant but I let it go because Olive Garden is pretty good and I never usually get to go out for dinner. And then him not showing up to my parents big anniversary barbeque because I got that maybe that was too much with everything going on with his parents. And then when we went to go see a movie together and we got into an argument and I thought maybe he would chase me when I stormed off but instead he ghosted me for three days.  
Until I called him to ask if he was planning on figuring out how to avoid me forever and he told me he thought we were broken up so he kissed Kelsey H. at a party. He desperately wanted another chance but I broke up with him. He tried to guilt me saying I was mad that he was bisexual so he had more options for moving on and maybe I was a little too brutally honest when I immediately fired back I didn't care who he kissed I was hurt because even if he thought it was over, he couldn't even wait a week to move on? Shows how much I ever mattered at all.  
I get out of the car and into Dylans house because the door is unlocked which is great because I'm not in the mood to wait for his dogs to wake him up today.  
I scratch bug bites in the doorway. I'm already covered in them from being a camp counselor. The universe keeps swinging.  
I'm smart enough to knock on Dylan's bedroom door before entering. "Hand out of your pants?"  
"Unfortunately." He replies. So I enter as he says, "Big Ben! Light of my life! He Who Endures Camp!"  
I shake my head. He's just lucky he didn't have a boyfriend who convinced him to sign up to herd 12 year olds around all summer before breaking up and then getting stuck."Hey," I respond.  
His eyes narrow. "You still have the box. What happened?"  
"Shipping costs $15."  
"I thought you were going to have Harriet drop it off for you since she lives next to him."  
"She said no."  
"So you should've just dumped-wait, you couldn't do it could you?"  
I put down the box. "Stop seeing past my bullshit. It's my bullshit."  
Dylan gets up and kisses my cheek. "It's okay pudding pop. "  
I roll my eyes. "Thanks but not helpful. "  
Not to point fingers but this is totally Dylan's fault for hooking up with Harriet and then spending his weekends off with her, leaving Hudson and I alone together. I miss the squad days.  
"How sad are we today on the sad boi scale today Benji pie?"  
I ponder this for a moment. " F2. It's doing some damage but nothing utterly devastating."  
"Good. Because I need to tell you something."  
"Are you gonna break up with me too? Not cool."  
"Sort of," Dylan says. "I met this girl yesterday at the diner."  
"Janet isn't new just because you haven't dated her yet, Dylan."  
"No, listen. After my doctor's appointment yesterday I went to the diner for some bacon and coffee."  
"Of course you would go get coffee right after a heart appointment."  
"Not the matter at hand. Anyways, I was walking in to get my fix, she was walking out to throw out the trash and I became trash for her."  
"As you do."  
"Big Ben, you do not understand the significance, she just moved here from Cheyanne. In a single moment I saw my future wife. I ordered a full meal so I could see her face for a longer period of time."  
"You are too much."  
Dylan raises his eyebrow. "Or am I just enough?"  
"Definitely too much. Does New In Town have a name?"  
"Samantha. Isnt that just the most perfect name you've ever heard?"  
"Wait. You said this happened yesterday. So why didn't you tell me last night when you were over at my place?"  
"I dont know," he says, like that's a satisfying answer.  
I dont tell him how I'm maybe the slightest bit jealous that he's in the stage of romance where everything is possible and shes the one when I was so sure that would be me and Hudson. We were going to go to the city together and I was going to wake up next to his beautiful face every day.  
Dylan tells me, "You'll always be my number one until baby Peter is born."  
"Baby Peter?"  
"Because you're Uncle Ben!"  
"No. Just no. And bros before babies dude!"  
"Tie?"  
"Tie."  
"And dont worry you won't be single for long. You're tall and your style is effortless and if I didn't have future Mrs. Samantha Boggs, I'm positive you would turn me within a year."  
"That's sweet," I say. "But as enticing as the idea is, and it is, no I would not. Which sucks because the only other gay kid left in Glenrock probably is Manhattan."  
"Who would name their kid Manhattan? And he's gay? Spill."  
"I doubt that's actually his name. He's just some dude I met from Manhattan."  
"You're an asshole. You have me feeling all bad for you and you're slutting up a tourist?"  
"What? No. I just met him at the post office this morning."  
"Tell me everything."  
"Theres not much to tell. He's in town for the summer from New York doing an internship which I honestly didn't know we had. He's short. 5'6, maybe 5'7. He didn't tell me his name but he told me he was gay, so, not sure what that's supposed to mean."  
"Hah!..wait, you're serious. Dude, he was totally flirting with you!"  
"No. I think he was just nervous."  
"And why would he be nervous and then blurt out that he was gay around here unless..." he leads me on with his hands.  
Maybe Dylan is right. But maybe I can't handle that yet. I pretend to check the time on my phone. "I should....go. I'll text you."  
"If im not texting Samantha I'll answer."  
I fight the lump in my throat. "Right. Okay. See you."  
Dylan calls me back. "Ben! The box. Unless you want me to handle it. I've got my old baseball bat."  
I shake my head but smile despite myself. " You need help. I'll handle it."  
I'm not sure if I'm lying.


	3. Namrata and Juliette

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chapter just before this fanfic drifts irrevocably away from canon

Arthur  
Tuesday, July 10

Me: So...met a boy yesterday

Jessie: [blushing emoji] do tell

Me: super cute, tall, rosy cheeks, freckles, and did I mention super cute? Like, the cutest

Jessie: what does the gaydar say?

Me: I...dont know. Possibly. He seemed pleasantly surprised when I blurted out that I was gay.

Jessie: You talked to the boy! Major props!

Me: I don't even know know his name....

Ethan: still. Massive game [flexing emoji]

Boy talk with Ethan is so unsettling. Like, he's so supportive in the group chat but in our personal chain I am faced with a wall of unanswered messages. Which Ethan is even real? Mom says I should talk to him. But what would I even say? 

I scroll through the old photos of the three of us.

I kind of hate him.  
I really miss him.

Me: Thanks guys! Anyways, my coffee will get cold if I keep sitting out in the car with it. I'll text you when I get off work.

It's still jarring to me how unlike moms office back home is from here.  
The corporate headquarters she works in are three times larger than the Glenrock facility. The cubicles are bigger here though, presumably because there are fewer employees per square foot. Well, the office only has 30 employees. Which, when you think about it is actually probably kind of a lot for this town- 1.3% of the population of Glenrock to be exact. I consider this for a moment and it legit blows my mind. The average class size at my highschool is 35 students per period.  
It's still a satellite location for a law firm so the decor is nice, but it's almost weirdly inviting for a legal office building when I think about it.  
"Yo," says Namrata, "Arthur, you're late."  
She hands me a massive stack of files so I know I'm in for a fun morning.  
I follow her into the conference room that she, myself, and Juliet have taken up for the summer.  
Juliet has her own stack of files that she is sorting through and I can see that the third is Namrata's.   
Namrata and Juilet are the youngest employees at the office. Namrata graduated from law school last year and Juliet is a Summer Associate as part of her education for law school.   
My chair has seen better days but the rollers still work great which I consider the perk of my internship.  
I plop down and kick off from the table legs. "Are all these files for one case?"  
"Welcome to Law," says Namrata.  
I leaf through my stack for a while before remembering that I left the coffees meant to win the girls over with in my car.  
I excuse myself and come back with the cup tray.  
The two are hyper focused so I pull their attention.  
'Namraaata! Julieeeet! I have something for you.'  
Juliet looks up, comments, 'if you had asked I could have told you I'm lactose intolerant so unless the creamer is soy based..."  
'Oh. Then nevermind I do not have something for you I'm sorry. Anyways do yall want to hear about my latest screw up?'  
'You mean, besides the one just now?' Namrata deadpans?  
"No. This is different. Its boy related."  
Namrata and Juliet figured out I was gay within 0.5 seconds of meeting me and discreetly and politely asked me about it at the beginning of the summer. Which has been nice because despite my total lack of a love life it is nice to be open.  
Namrata finally looks up. "Go on."  
"I met a boy at the post office."  
"Let me guess," says Namrata, " You made out with him around the back?"  
"Uh, no..."  
"Inside a mailbox?"  
"What? No. But I talked to him and he was mailing a box to a Male identified person and he seemed pleasantly surprised when I told him I was gay."  
"Oh. So he's gay."  
"I dont know. Or bi or pan maybe. Or he was angrily trying to mail a box to his estranged brother."  
"Wait," asks Juliet, "did he or did he not actually mail the box?"  
"Does it matter?"  
"Yes. Answer."  
"No. He said something about shipping costs and the universe sucking."  
"Ex boyfriend for sure. Anyways, how'd you screw it up? "  
"Still dont know that and I didn't ask him for his number."  
"Yes we do and can't you find him online?"  
"Probably except I also don't know his name."  
Namrata, "O sweetie"s me. Then she pauses and I see a lightbulb. "Well, assuming he's about your age you could probably go up to a random teen around here and describe him and get some results."  
"No that's creepy."  
"Well, alternatively juliet and I could write you a missed connection on craigslist."  
"Or not. Let's go with not."  
Namrata taps my stack of papers. "Then get back to work."


End file.
